“The Rich Jew”: An Anti-Judaic Anecdote about the Religious Social Order in 17th century Hamburg

Source Description

This excerpt is taken from the book Jüdische
Merckwürdigkeiten [“Jewish Notabilia”] published by the rector of
a gymnasium in Frankfurt am
Main, Johann
Jacob Schudt, in four volumes between 1714 and 1717. Himself a Lutheran,
Schudt illustrates
the anti-Judaic stance typical of this age in his observations about
contemporary Jews throughout Germany and even Europe. His Jüdische Merckwürdigkeiten is an excellent example
of the growing academic interest in religious Otherness. In the first volume—the
source of the text here—Schudt reports on the Jews in Hamburg based on
observations he made from 1684 to 1689, when he studied there under the
Orientalist
Esdras Edzardi.
Schudt also
recounts an anecdote originally told by Johann Balthasar
Schupp(ius), the pastor of the church St. Jacobi in Hamburg from 1649–1661, about encountering a
Sephardic Jew in the
mid-17th
century. According to Schudt’s citation, the
anecdote was taken from a collection of writings published after Schupp’s death under the
title Der unterrichtete Student [“The Informed
Student”].

Schudt uses this story
to illustrate and critically examine the details of the living conditions of the
Sephardic Jews in
Hamburg in
terms which contemporary readers could understand. Schupp’s work was
particularly well suited for this purpose; this popular
pastor had been an avid writer
with a folksy style rich with satire and anecdote. Whether or not the story told
here is based on an actual event is unclear and less important than
understanding Schupp’s
motivation in relating the anecdote of how he, as a Lutheran
pastor, doffed his hat and bowed “so low” before a Jew,
behaving as though it was the “ Elector of Saxony” in front of him
instead. His story is meant to convey to his Christian contemporaries that the
social religious order in Hamburg has been turned upside down. According to orthodox
Lutheran theology, the Jews—considered blasphemous heathen—were to assume a
subordinate role as servants beneath the Christian subjects. The appearance and
manner of the Jewish protagonist in Schupp’s story stands in
direct opposition to this expectation: he arrives in a “splendid carriage lined
with velvet […],” wearing a “silken robe,” and he is accompanied by a servant in
livery, who even lifts him from the carriage when it reaches its destination. In
the 17th century,
this description would have been typical for those of great importance, for
example a “bishop” or an “elderly
prince or count.”

It was only a local passerby, according to Schupp, who informed him of
his mistake. This “honest, pious woman” told him “with a smile” that this
undefined “lord” was in fact a Jew, known throughout Hamburg as “the rich
Jew.” His informant is described as recognizing the comedic aspect of Schupp’s bowing before the
supposed “lord,” and also complacent in regards to the breach of rules
established under Lutheran theology—a Jew living in luxury—which had become part
of everyday life in Hamburg. Her behavior as a local Christian presents a contrast
to Schupp’s surprise
and criticism of the situation.

Schupp’s didactic
message

The final sentences of Schupp’s anecdote make clear that he sought not only to
entertain his readers but to instruct them. They take the form of an inner
monologue directed towards the “rich Jew,” in which the author warns his readers
to think of the animosity which—according to the Christian expectations of that
age—Jews harbored towards Christians. Schupp draws here on
anti-Judaic prejudices dating back to the Middle Ages according to
which Jews were thought deceitful. He specifically accused the “rich Jew” of
having “scratched together” enough money by defrauding Christians to live better
than “some imperial counts in Germany” could. His
closing remark concerning the destruction of Jerusalem (including
the temple), which had marked the defeat of the Jews by the Roman
emperor
Titus in 70 AD, is also meant to be instructive.
Theologians interpreted these historical events as a
divine punishment of the Jews for their refusal to convert to Christianity. By
pointing this out, the author highlighted the subordinate status which Jews were
to assume from the Christian perspective. This would have been clear to the
early modern reader, as would have the fact that financial transactions—“money
to trade with Venice, Amsterdam, or Hamburg”—of the scope
possible for Sephardic Jews
at the time of Schupp’s publication stood in direct contradiction to this
theological concept.

The person behind “the rich Jew”

Because the actual identity of the Jew in question was of little importance for
his instructive purposes, Schupp did not name him. Schudt, however, tells his
reader that the “rich Jew” was Diogo
(Diego?) Teixeira (1581–1666), son of a wealthy converso family from Portugal which had fled
from the Inquisition and spent time in Brazil, Antwerp, and Cologne before settling
in Hamburg in
1646. The first Portuguese Jews had
come there in the early 17th
century; like Teixeira, they were the descendants of exiles from the
Iberian
Peninsula, some of whom had been subjected to forced baptism.
Like many of these conversos who returned to their Jewish faith in Hamburg, Teixeira and his family formally returned to Judaism in 1647 (and he assumed the Jewish name Abraham Senior). The
open celebration of this conversion generated vehement protest among the
orthodox Lutheran clergy in Hamburg and attracted attention from far beyond the city
itself.

Teixeira, “the rich Jew” of Hamburg, was among his
contemporaries the most widely known representative of an elite group of wealthy
merchants and entrepreneurs who shaped the image of the Sephardic community in
Hamburg. By
trading in luxury goods and dealing in currency markets and exchanges on a
continental scale which included royal courts, Teixeira accumulated a fortune which made him legendary. Like
other Sephardic Jews in 17th century
Hamburg, he
served the nobility in official capacities. As a financial advisor to the
Swedish
queen
Christina, he was
considered a person of distinction. In his magnificent house on Jungfernstieg—described by contemporaries as an “earthly paradise,”
Teixeira received not only notable citizens of Hamburg but also
representatives of European
princes and monarchs.

The situation of the Jews in Hamburg in the 17th century

Sephardic merchants like
Teixeira were allowed exceptional freedoms regarding their
commercial and social activities in Hamburg; because of
their importance for the city’s economy they enjoyed the protection of the
municipal senate.
Their situation, however, was somewhat precarious, for there was considerable
resistance within the city to this toleration. Schupp suggests this, in
fact, in the opening sentences of his anecdote, which Schudt includes as an
appendix (§10): Schupp
points out that he himself would follow the Biblical example of Joshua’s treatment of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:27)
and assign the Jews to the most menial physical labor as
“woodcutters” and “water carriers”
rather than allowing them to drive about in velvet-lined carriages.

The anti-Judaic attitude evident here was typical not just of the orthodox
Lutheran clergy, but also more generally of the middle class. As this class
acquired more political clout in the city in the second half of the 17th century, the
living conditions for the Sephardic Jews declined. By the end of the 17th century, the negative
evolution had culminated in demands for high tribute payments and a further
limitation of their already limited religious rights. As a result, most members
of the Sephardic upper class
turned their backs on Hamburg, and the heyday of Sephardic Judaism in Hamburg came to an
end.

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About the Author

Jutta Braden, Dr. phil., is historian and research assistant in a research project which deals with the history of missionary work to Jews in Hamburg at the University of Hamburg in collaboration with the Institute for the history of the German Jews. Her focus of research is: policies towards Jews and Jewish-Christian conversions in Hamburg in early modern times.

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non commercial - No Derivatives 4.0 International License. As long as the work is unedited and you give appropriate credit according to the Recommended Citation, you may reuse and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial purposes.